Tag: illustrator
Creating Repeating Plaid Patterns Roundup
Plaid patterns in Illustrator are actually pretty simple once you know the right tricks. Here are a couple different tutorials to show you how to create plaids both in AI and with a bit of help from Photoshop if you want.
Best Practices for Drawing Fashion Sketches in Illustrator
Learn the right (and wrong) way of creating essential fashion flat sketch details, such as ribbing and stitching. I’ll show you some common mistakes every designer makes and how to do things quicker and easier.
Adobe Illustrator CC 2014 New Pen Tool Features
Illustrator just released AICC 2014 and there are some really great updates to the Pen Tool. One of the most powerful (I can’t believe it took so long to add this one!) is a path preview (0:22). That’s right, you’ll now be able to see exactly what the path will look like instead of guessing what you’ll get. This will help […]
Illustrator Cannot Save “An Unknown Error Has Occurred”
After fighting with AI CC over the past couple days (and feeling very frustrated), I found a few workarounds to this annoying error. I’m continually getting the “an unknown error has occurred” when I try to save various files. I cannot figure out any type of pattern or consistent behavior that causes this. None of […]
How to Break Apart Repeating Patterns in Illustrator
Easily grab and design element or motif from repeating patterns with this quick trick. Whether it’s a pattern you grabbed from a stock photo site or one that your coworker created, learn how to break it open and pull out what you need.
What Are the Parts of a Zipper Called?
In your tech pack, you’ll want to use correct terminology not only when you’re putting specs together on your fashion flat sketches, but also for the various trims that are used in your designs. There are a lot of different parts to a zipper and knowing what each one is called will help communicate your vision clearly. This […]
How to Create Specs for Repeating Patterns
A lot of the work I do is print/textile design based, so I’m constantly creating specs for artwork to send to factories. Here is how to prepare artwork in Adobe Illustrator to make sure your design is executed accurately. Many factories also love to get a printout of at least a portion of the artwork at full scale so […]
Types of Weave Structures
Grab all 5 weaves as Illustrator repeating patterns to add to your designs.DOWNLOAD THE WEAVE STRUCTURES FILE If you’re designing wovens, you will most likely need to define the weave structure that you want your factory to use. There are thousands of different patterns that can be woven, but there are some basic ones that […]
How to Create Space Dye Texture Patterns in Illustrator
Simple repeating textile patterns like stripes and polka dots are quick and easy to make in Adobe Illustrator. But textures like heathers, melange and space dyes can be harder to realistically emulate. If you’re like me and work in the activewear market, then you see these textures everywhere. They’re on leggings, tanks, jackets, and any other item […]
Automatically Load Brushes, Swatches & Symbols in Every Illustrator File
You may already know how to save custom libraries for things like swatches and brushes to use over and over again in Adobe Illustrator. But did you know you can create a master template file with these libraries so you don’t have to reload libraries each time you work in AI? If you sketch tons of fashion flats in […]
Anatomy of Argyle Patterns
Traditional argyle patterns typically look very similar in construction and are made up of diamonds and either solid or dashed lines often referred to as rakers. And yep – it’s really quite that simple! The diagram below shows the one tile that makes up the argyle repeat.
Garment Terms and Abbreviations in the Fashion Industry
Your fashion designer friends are dropping terms like CF, HPS and SS – and you’re wondering what the heck they mean. You’re too embarrassed to ask – because you should probably know these terms already. Learn the must know abbreviations so you too can talk like a pro.
How to Easily Sketch with the Pen Tool in Illustrator
The most frustrating tool in Illustrator? If you said the Pen Tool, you’re not alone – in fact, you’re right there with every other person fighting their way through using it to sketch. Learn some super simple tricks to finally get your sketches looking professional.
